A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzabar

A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzibar... Now what is between? For the world wide classical era philatelist and stamp collector, a country specific philatelic survey is offered by the blog author, Jim Jackson, with two albums: Big Blue, aka Scott International Part 1 (checklists available), and Deep Blue, aka William Steiner's Stamp Album Web PDF pages. In addition, "Bud" offers commentary and a look at his completely filled Big Blue. Interested? So into the Blues...

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Early German semi-postals, starting in
1919, have a kindly quality about them. Germania is surcharged a few pfennigs in
behalf of her war wounded. A female figure (a demilitarized Germania?) plants a
shrubbery and feeds the hungry. Other stamps feature local symbols and restored
architecture. Germany is in post-war healing mode.

Likewise beginning in 1919, Germany’s
air mail stamps reflect soaring hope and technological momentum, culminating
with the zeppelin series. All stamps shown
on the zeppelin scan are original except the row marked “reprints.”

Both semi-postal and airmail stamps
appear to have leaped over the hyperinflation years and landed in the emerging
Nazi era in time to promote Hitler’s so-called “charities.” Collectors must
have bought these later semi-postal unused in great numbers. Feeder albums swarm
with mint examples; good cancels are few and expensive.

BB concludes the BOB pages with
sections for Germany’s occupation by Belgium (overprints on Belgian stamps) and
German offices in China and Morocco (a reprise of the Germania series). A few
Germanias overprinted in Polish (for Polish occupied Posen) are tacked on at
the end. For some reason, BB places Turkish offices stamps before the main
Germany pages, although logically they belong here, too. German banks printed
currency for use in foreign offices, such as China (see above).

Occupation and office stamps,
including examples on supplement pages, stir little interest in me, so these spaces
filled up slowly. There would still be blanks, no doubt, were it not for good
feeder albums.

Germany issued overprinted Germania stamps
for both its offices and the countries it occupied; so her hawkish image pops
up throughout BB. For German colonial stamp designs of the same time period,
however, the Kaiser’s yacht Hohenzollern was chosen -- less pugnacious,
perhaps, but more usurpacious.

Census: see comment for Germany 1872-1919.

Jim's ObservationsOne would think the "Occupation stamps" category for Germany would be overflowing. ;-)

For WWI, Germany occupied, in whole or part:LuxembourgBelgiumFranceRussia

For WWII, Germany occupied in whole or part:PolandDenmarkNorwayBelgiumLuxembourgFranceGreeceEgyptCreteUkraineMoldovaLithuaniaLatviaEstoniaBelarusRussiaTunisiaHungary

Many stamps were issued for these occupied territories by Germany. So why aren't they found here?

Because the Scott catalogue lists any "Occupation Stamps" under the the country that was occupied.

So one would have to go to "Belgium" for instance, to find the overprinted Germania stamps of Germany there. It makes sense in a way. as these are the stamps of the country, however unpleasant for them, for that period of time.

But collectors have different agendas. If one collects Germany, than the "occupied" stamps of a country that Germany occupied are quite popular to collect. But popularity for German collectors of stamps issued by another country (Belgium) while occupying Germany? Not so much.

Who wants to be reminded of the time when another country was occupying one's own? So one often finds very little "Occupation of Germany" stamps in a German collection, when filled by a German collector. On the other hand, a Belgian collector from Belgium might very well like to collect these stamps.